Karohemd's World

After a rather long train/tube journey (KingsX line was screwed so had to use the Liverpool St. line), I (on ditzy_pole's recommendation) first had lunch at Gordon Ramsay's Maze restaurant which was rather fine. I hadn't treated myself in quite a while so I had four courses from the lunch menu with the flight of wines:

I can't remember the wines (I really need to write these down). The first was a young and fresh Sauvignon/Chardonnay, then a light but fruity Italian red (grape I wasn't familiar with) and with dessert a sparkly Muscadet (perfect with the rather sweet parfait)
Service was excellent, too, friendly, unobtrusive and eager to explain everything.
I also watched the sommelier deal with what must have been a rather special (and probably old) bottle of wine. He opened it very carefully, poured out a bit into a glass, looked at it, sniffed it (probably to check if it had corked). Then he poured a bit into a carafe and basically rinsed out the carafe with the wine before decanting the bottle.

Then off to Islington to meet my friend Maria for tea and cakes. Ottolenghi was bursting at the seams with queue outside the door so we went somewhere else which was OK. It was good to catch up and chat with someone I don't see as often anymore.

After that my main reason to go to London that day: Cirque du Soleil's Totem at the Royal Albert Hall. Randomly, ditzy_pole and asthier had also booked tickets for that performance and even more randomly, sat about 5 seats away from me so we had a little chat during the interval.
The show was less artsy-fartsy than some I've seen but had a similar format, all the acts flowing into each other with live music accompaniment. It was a fantastic mix of various acrobatics and jonglage. My favourite acts were the "Perches" because there were not only wonderful acrobatics but also feats of strength and physics involved and "Manipulation" because I hadn't see that kind of clever jonglage before. My least favourite bits were the clowns, especially that obnoxious Italian and the bit with the waterski. That was just a waste of time (and didn't get that much applause, either). As always, stage and costume design were marvellous, too.

Sadly, I couldn't stay and chat as I had to head off quickly so I could catch my train home in time. Due to a door fault, we were stuck on a rather hot Victoria line train for at least five minutes before it set off again. I just made it to Tottenham Hale and the train to Cambridge in time.

Varekai was absolutely amazing. Alegria last year was a bit too much show and lalala but this was superb. Lots of amazing acrobatics with the breathtaking Russian Swing number being the fitting finale. A cunning stage with rotating platforms and randomly appearing hatches (both for comedic effect and making artists appear and disappear), great use of light and stage dressing/props and wonderful music made the whole thing a wonderful experience.

Pleasant conversation made the train journey back fly by, I just could have lived without the pouring rain outside the station. By the time I reached my car I was drenched.